In this Video Luke Rudkowski talks to Colin Guinn, the Chief Innovations Officer and creator of the DJI Phantom about his decision to not allow his commercial UAVs to fly in area's that the Chinese Government demanded restricted. In the new firmware for the DJI Phantom an owner of the UAV would be not allowed to take off or fly in GPS mode around area's like Tiananmen square."

Sounds like a rough temporary workaround for the government. I'd imagine in the future they will implement a frequency jammer or the likes that can more effectively block unwanted remote controlled vehicles.

Or to require all rc to be online-connected, so it can automatically 'apply' for flying permits as needed.

Yeah I think this will be something the authorities will require of manufacturers as part of formal regulations in the near future.

There will be heaps of no fly zones, which we will no doubt find workarounds. But most of those locations will be as boring as bat **** to film/photograph anyway. Sites like critical infrastructure will be top of the no fly list.

And if you flip it into atti mode there's not a thing the software can do. And if they make the GPS still track in the background in atti mode? Well just open up the top and pull the GPS plug out of the main board!

These are just sops to a particular government by DJI to keep everyone happy - it doesn't take much to override the geofences at the moment.

I apologize for the long read, but I hate crap like this. I just had a conversation with a friend of mine last night about how she hates to go to movie theaters anymore. Basically what ruins her enjoyment of the film are people talking on cell phones and texting in the middle of the movie. Talking out loud (no pun intended) we explored possible solutions like shielding the theater to prevent cellular radio from getting in or out (too expensive), or setting up special screenings just for folks say, over 25. She said, "that's just it, even older folks are doing it." Too many today have become so juvenile, have no common sense, and have no respect for others that it seems everything needs to be policed or made a law of. So what do we do? Answer: we just don't go anymore, esp @$20 per film, it's just not worth it anymore. Don't get me wrong she loves the movies and the big screen and big sound, but why would anybody want to pay $20 just to spend 90 minutes in a room full selfish people only to have a turn into 90 minute buzz kill? It defeats the purpose of going in the first place.

In many parts of the world, freedom as we know it in the US & UK and other countries doesn't exist. I can understand a company wanting to do business there, and being mandated to comply with the restrictions of those governments or not be allowed to sell product, and I don't have a problem with that. However, in the "free world" I have a problem with any government that attempts to coerce any manufacturer into "crippling" their product in order to circumvent public hearings, discussion, application for changes in policy, restrictions, legislation, etc. in attempts to fast-track them into law before those whom these laws affect even know what's going on.

If DJI wants to program no-fly geofences in GPS mode that can be switched on or off, I wouldn't have a problem with that. I don't accept being able to switch to ATTI mode as justifiable excuse for not being able to fly in GPS mode (and later Waypoint mode) to forcibly apply no-fly zones. As Colin Guinn said, it's not DJI's responsibility to enforce the law. And as others have posted here, Park regulations, policies, and laws have already been in place which restrict R/C flying in or around many parks & national monuments and such.

Photographers are fighting a similar battle. Public streets & buildings are exactly that, there is no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in such places, yet photographers who were taking photos of security officers arresting protesters, were then arrested for taking pictures of them. This happened recently in the US, and was overturned in court in favor of the photographer.

I can only hope that should this ever come to pass, we will be forewarned in advance such that we may elect not to upgrade our firmware. IMHO I view this as coercement, forcing us to install & comply, else suffer the consequences of negating any future bug fixes and feature enhancements. My only other hope would be the release of hacked firmware. God it just sickens me already, having to "jailbreak" our PV's.

Ultimately it may come down to simple choice like it did for us about going to the movies: Don't buy the Phantom, build your own or buy something else.

The geofence could easily be made to apply in atti or manual mode if they wanted to, switching to either of those modes doesn't turn the GPS off, it just stops using the data (for manual).

Phantom's are built in China, and it's no surprise that they made the stipulation that they be prohibited by default from flying over the most sacred "federal" installation in that country.

I fully expect the forthcoming new FAA regulations to include some requirement that any autonomous or assisted flight control systems used in drones will have geofences installed around the white house, the pentagon, etc. Especially if somebody's Phantom goes fly'way and plops down on the south lawn in the meantime.